During class on Thursday, the instructors led 14 9- to 11-year-old students through a programming sequence to deliver turn-by-turn instructions to their robots and to stop upon recognition of a ball using an ultrasonic sensor.

A course was set up on the floor of the computer lab for the robots to navigate.

Nine-year-old Lauren Jaqua was excited to join the class and to be in a room full of LEGO pieces.

"I have a whole city built in my room of LEGOs," Jaqua said. "I play with them a lot, I thought it would be fun to try it out."

Instead of writing code to dictate the robots' actions, the LEGO software uses color-coded icons -- each representing a movement -- that can be dragged and dropped into a sequence. An icon could be assigned to move the robot a certain number of feet, turn it at a specific angle or use a sensor to detect an object or wall and stop.

Ernest Laughter fiddles with his LEGO robot during Kids Kollege on Thursday at San Juan College in Farmington. (Jon Austria/The Daily Times)

"We use a lot of mathematical concepts like radius, circumference, basic algebra equations, geometry, degrees, rotations," said Sheryl Dee, the course's instructor. "Most of them know multiplication and division. They are picking it up very quickly."

While the students are learning advanced math, the instructors get experience teaching, Dees said.

"We're excited to give our regular credit students an opportunity to deepen their knowledge by interacting with other students," she said.